I got the Imagineering: A Behind the Dreams Look at Making the Magic Real book for Christmas. After reading it, I want to do all of the jobs! Each step of the process is fascinating!! I most love the conceptual part. Unfortunately, my artistic skills are non-existant at best. What is the best training for someone who wants to be able to do everything AND learn how to draw?

The best way to learn to draw is.... start drawing! You might invest in a T-square, some drafting dots, vellum or tracing paper, mechanical pencils and an architectural scale. Architecture courses in college will help push you in the right direction... but you can get some pretty decent books in the art section at barnes and noble.

The best way to learn to draw is.... start drawing! You might invest in a T-square, some drafting dots, vellum or tracing paper, mechanical pencils and an architectural scale. Architecture courses in college will help push you in the right direction... but you can get some pretty decent books in the art section at barnes and noble.

Thanks! I'm in a technical drawing class right now, so now I know what a t-square is! I was meaning more drawing concept art, for trying to get my point across. I guess it doesn't flow out of me like it does for some people. I was also wondering, who decides when a ride needs to be refurbished? Is there a group that goes through, tweaking things long after a ride opens? Like, plussing it? That would be an awesome job to have. Going through and making fantastic stuff just a touch better. Would it be called a quality-control group? Something like that.

A lot of times when the economy is in a recession, there's not enough money to build a brand new attraction. So a company will add a show or a parade or upgrade an existing attraction. This can be done for a fraction of the cost of an entirely new attraction. So enhancements happen at those times. Generally the strategic planners come up with a budget and then the ball is set in motion.

[quote="DancinBelle"]Thanks! I'm in a technical drawing class right now, so now I know what a t-square is! I was meaning more drawing concept art, for trying to get my point across. I guess it doesn't flow out of me like it does for some people. I was also wondering, who decides when a ride needs to be refurbished? Is there a group that goes through, tweaking things long after a ride opens? Like, plussing it? That would be an awesome job to have. Going through and making fantastic stuff just a touch better. Would it be called a quality-control group? Something like that.[/quote]

Hmm.. what exactly doesn't flow? The ideas or the image on paper?

There are lots of exercises to get the juices flowing creatively - from collage to scribbling, to harsh rapid emotional strokes leading to a vision, etc.

Something I learned is that design isn't about making pretty pictures. Artists do that, let them enjoy it. In design, the physical final product that guests enjoy is the real artform. The full living 3D embodiment in space.

Your design is there to convey your ideas to a craftsman, a sponsor, your colleagues, etc. Everyone who is involved in the process of the whole creation. So, really what matters is getting those ideas in order and THEN properly displayed.

From your plussing/tweaking interest - what would you like to do? Say you want to add bows on the left side of every female child in "its a small world" - and my question is: why?

The same question really for any idea. You need to convey why to people. Why did you make that choice? Why is it appropriate? Why would you want to do that? Is it furthering your theme or the message of the attraction?

Then, how?

From there you figure out an image which conveys the ideas you want.

Some people are amazing and their doodles become art and everything seems so clearly mapped out and the emotion of the moment is grand you can read a great meaning from their image. Funnily enough, they often didn't really consider the meaning of their image and its interpretation, but rather just sort of had it flow from them.

While I salute them in their artistic genius - that aint me. I don't think it's most people either. People like me, and i think you too, need to get their ideas in order, really know what they want to express, and then find solutions to express it. All art "is" is an idea expressed through a medium, be it painting, drawing, sculpture, film, or in our case theme park attractions

So, what's your idea? why? and how?

Figure that out, and the rest becomes simple problem solving. If "It" needs a sense of grandeur - well what makes something grand? Key into those qualities and use them to convey your idea. It's a visual grammar, and since you're dealing with desing rather then art - you can also use physicality and audio and sorts of other bits to enhance the experience.

Oh, and as ideas come to you - never forget the "why" and "neat" or "cool" is never an acceptable why. That's how you end up with gimmicks and hollow unsatisfying design. Things that people build to amuse themselves and neglect their audience. Wouldn't it be neat if we made a roller coaster that went past screens? Technology for technologie's sake. Yuck, no, avoid it. Ask "why?" often and dont fall into that rut.

Yikes - pretty long lecture for someone i don't know. Sorry if i come off as boisterous. Hope you figure things out and i was at least a bit helpful!

The ideas flow quite nicely (well, nobody can shut me up), and I'll get all excited, and try to draw something to get my point across. And then, I end up with something that doesn't look remotely like how I imagined it. It sucks!

When I say "quality control group" it is similar to a maintenance group, but they would do more of creative solutions. Like, if something doesn't seem quite right, they fix it creatively. Or do tune ups. Like, I noticed the Country Bear Jamboree seems kind of neglected, which is a real shame, because it's wonderful. The fur is getting wear spots, and moose head on the wall can't open his left eye all of the way. I find it frustrating that it isn't maintained as well as I think it should be. This was in late August, and I'm going back for spring break, so maybe it'll be better. Who made the decision to go in and work on the Haunted Mansions? That kind of thing. Maybe I just have ridiculously high standards.

Theorhetically everyone in the company is responsible for show quality at Disney, but with some attractions (like Country Bears) running in an obvious stae of disrepair it seems the company has drifted far from those ideals.

At Disney, the department to whom you're referring is known as SQS... Show Quality Service. Their job was to maintain the attraction from an imagineering standpoint. In the nile river show scene of the Jungle cruise, there are 3 cricket point source speakers, one triggered sound, 9 props, 2 animated figured and 1 piece of show action equipment. Are they all working properly? Does everything look like it should? I'm completely making all of this stuff up, but that would be typical of what they'd keep track of. That is the task of SQS...maintaining the magic.

Rumor has it that Disney ditched the entire department back in 2000 but I'm sure somebody still has to do it. And besides, what would I know? I'm a Universal guy.

I think in most parks the position is less than glamorous. Park Services may repaint a fence, pull out and replace a trash can, pressure wash the wall of a rusty building. Generally it's just general maintenance and I'm not sure anyone really ever looks at it from the eye of a themed attraction designer. Generally, it's looked at as maintenance, which is probably something you don't want to get into.